I personally visited home a lot, which helped to keep me from getting homesick. That being said, it depends on the person. Some individuals don't like to visit home, and that's fine. My siblings didn't visit home very often when in school, and a few of my roommates did. It completely depends on your relationship with your family as well as your need to get away from campus for a while.

I say it depends on you. If you are homesick and want to keep the connection between your home/family life strong, then (if you are able) take trips home as often as you can! It does not hurt to see friends and family, especially when times are tough and college gets stressful. If visiting home does more damage than good, then do what is most comfortable for you!

I would say to find a good balance and how often you go home depends more on your family dynamics. If your family is/was difficult, it could be healthier to stay at school more than going home often. If your family is/was more cool with things and letting each of you be you, then going home may be better all the way around. Going home can be a good break when classes are not in session. Going home can also be a stumbling block when homework is due, tests are coming, or research needs to be done.

I think you need to strike a balance between spending weekends at home and on campus. If you spend too much time at home, you'll miss out on campus stuff. If you spend too much time on campus, you'll miss home. So definitely go home every few weekends, but not every weekend!

I was far from home, so I could only go home about every 6 weeks, and that was pretty tough. I'm glad in a sense that I couldn't go home all the time though, because it helped me make friends since I had to venture out and find people to do stuff with. I think you need a balance of going home once in awhile, so you don't get too homesick, but not going every single weekend.

I would recommend going home once in a while. It's great to leave college and school work behind for even just a couple of days and refresh back at home. I get to see my family, some friends that stayed home for college, and my pets. My freshman year I went back home a lot - there really wasn't anything for me to do and I figured I might as well go home and take advantage of free food and air conditioning. However, as I got more busy - harder classes, more activities, more shifts - I realized going home nearly every weekend was unproductive. I never got homework done. I wasn't working as much hours as I could to save money. I would say limit your visits to once a month, if you can.

I think how often you go home can vary based on how long you've been in college. My parents always suggested not coming home for at least the first month of college, because that allows you to get over your first wave of homesickness and become more integrated into the college community. Once you become accustomed to living at your school, it'll just depend on how often you want to go home. You may find that you prefer staying at school, since that's where most of your friends are. Or you may find that you still want to go home fairly often to catch up with your family. I think it's perfectly okay to visit home as often as you want, provided that you allow yourself some time to fully adjust to college life and living on your own first.

I try to go home at least once a month. It may be for a whole weekend or just Sunday dinner. I'm lucky that I only live an hour and a half away from school and can take a train home. It's important to keep in touch with your family and your parents. Just because you left for college doesn't mean you can stop hanging out with your family. It's also nice to get away from school and roommates and go back somewhere familiar. Also, free food and laundry is a pretty nice perk!

In order to contribute to a diverse array of answers, I'll provide a sort of alternate perspective that hasn't already been said--sometimes people's families/homes aren't safe or healthy environments, so in those cases I'd recommend not visiting home that often. I have friends who have felt compelled to visit home because their parents force them to visit, or because they feel obligated to--I'd recommend resisting those compulsions to go home if you feel like they're coming from external sources (i.e. someone at home wants you to come back a lot but you don't want to). If going home will remind you of something painful or traumatic (perhaps a negative environment at home, family troubles, bad experiences from high school coming back to haunt you, etc), you'll want to avoid returning too often or at all. However, for those who have supportive and positive homes to visit, visit whenever you feel like you need a bit of comfort and familiarity! :) The other answers on here are great. Going home can definitely be time and energy-consuming, so try not to let your college life slip if you tend to visit home often.

Going home often can be tempting, especially if you live close and have strong connections to your family. However, visiting too often can lead you to fall back into your old habits and rely on your parents to solve your issues. It can also distract you from fully integrating into the college community. Many clubs, groups, and events happen on weekends, so missing out on those can take a toll on your social life while in university. It can also detract from your academic life as many students (myself included) become immediately lazier when returning home. I would try to limit your time at home. If you're still anxious to see your family and are just a short drive away, maybe try just driving out for a meal together instead of spending all your time there.

I myself do not visit home that often because it's a plane ride away, and I am grateful that I am in this position because it allows me to make sure I really absorb myself into college life and it has allowed me to grow up and solve problems (i.e. homesickness, finances, quarrels, etc.) without running to my parents. I would say that I go home 2-3 times in the fall semester (fall break, Thanksgiving, and Christmas), and once or twice in the spring semester.

As someone who watched older kids go off to school, come home a lot, and then transfer back, I would recommend staying at school as much as you can. Going home was tough on me-- I felt like I could never get my homework and laundry done and it always threw off my schedule for the next week. I had friends who went home a lot and they ended up not doing as well in their classes. Going home is fun and it's a good break from school, but going home every weekend probably isn't the best decision. Remember that you're building your own life.

It really depends on how far away home is from your school. While going home is nice as you get to see your family and eat and do your laundry for free, you do miss out on what's happening on-campus when you're away. Sometimes you do just need a break from your roommates or from the business of being at school, which makes being at home a relaxing reprieve. Ultimately, even if your home isn't too far from school, you don't want to be visiting it too often as you want to be enjoying your time at college and taking advantage of all there is going on -- but that doesn't mean when you just need to see your family for a bit and get away from it all that you should worry about whether you're going to miss stuff.